I'm not saying it's not realistic, it's just annoying when it happens in such a round. And flags can help too. E.g. in my very first Cabo round (i.e. the 52) I hit the flag on hole 2 and ball stopped dead 2 inches away for a trivial eagle. Without the flag it most likely would have been a birdie or even a par.
Btw, in today's round I missed 2 3ft putts, so I know what you were talking about... :]